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Born in 1197, François attracted the attention of the methuselahHelena when she passed through the town of Paris looking for Menele. He was a linguistics scholar with aspirations to marry a noble heiress, and Helena gave him more than he could ever desire.

She Embraced him in 1230, and from her François learned the value of constructing a colorful backstory. To that end, Villon carefully crafted a litany of contradictory origins. Claiming any number of heroic (and unverifiable) deeds as his own, Villon elevated himself above the rank and file of the Kindred, leaving behind those with no ambition or vision. Whether the tale involves slaying the Dragon at the side of St. George, crossing the Alps with Hannibal or watching Christ turn water to wine, Villon claims to have been there. It is claimed that he was especially beloved by the scheming dowager [Queen Catherine de Medici] in the 16th century. His greatest ability is to appear more powerful than he actually is. He knows that a vampire can never truly "control" an aspect of mortal life, but he has no qualms about appearing as if he does. This illusion granted him the respect of his peers.

When Henri of Navarre became king, François took time to visit other Kindred throughout France and the Continent, and returned as a Villon descendant during the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV. François served as the chief lieutenant of his predecessor, Beatrix, until the time of the Revolution, when he was attacked by revolutionaries and forced to fake his death, fleeing to a safe haven in Britain for several years.

When he returned during the rise of Napoléon, Francois rallied the Toreador, reclaimed Paris, and declared himself prince in the process. He looks back with pain on his time of exile and has remained in France since the late 1790s.

Prince Villon rules the City of Lights and particularly his special pet interest, the fashion community, from the seat of Toreador power in the 1st Arrondissement at the Louvre. His words are absolute law with regard to art and culture, not only in Paris but throughout much of France and the "civilized" world as well. He is especially fond of beautiful women, and many famous models have given of their blood to prince of Paris.

Francois is a tall, dashing man with black hair and brown eyes. He wears elegantly cut dark suits with wild neckties and he smokes the finest cigarettes in an ebony holder.

François Villon is named after a famous french poet with considerable influence on the French language. However, the mortal Villon was born two hundred years after the Toreador Villon was Embraced, so Villon either assumed the name to grant himself more grandeur and prestige, or the mortal Villon never existed and was a sham of the Toreador to interact with the mortal world.

In A World of Darkness Second Edition, Villon is mentioned to have assumed the princedom only after the French Revolution. In the Transylvania Chronicles III, in the scenario playing right before the Revolution, Villon is already Prince and has been apparently for some time, with no mention of a predecessor.